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The Village Of Happiness: The Story Of The Training School

Creator: Joseph P. Byers (author)
Date: 1934
Publisher: The Smith Printing House
Source: New Jersey State Library
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6

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From the work of these latter the new Science of Human Welfare is being evolved and to this new science all other sciences are contributory. Perhaps it may not be too far from the truth to say that the final objective of all science is the ultimate welfare of humanity. Certainly the Research Laboratory of The Village of Happiness must take first rank with those other human agencies which, working among and for the multitude, have brought to it an increased knowledge of itself and thus made the road of fulfillment of its destiny less difficult to those who have been denied a full birthright.

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The laboratory was a further fulfillment of the vision of the Director of the Village. Its beginning and early development were both made possible by the generous financial support of those whose faith in that vision had grown with its fulfillment, Samuel S. Fels, Bleecker VanWagenen, Bayard Cutting, and others; its growth and present standing in the scientific world to the very many who, with similar faith, have given expression to that faith in their continuing gifts for its maintenance.

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The beneficient results to human welfare of the work of the Research Laboratory during its twenty-eight years of activity are beyond appraisal. They have cost comparatively little in money -- much in devotion and sacrifice from those who have guided its work. To these there must be the satisfaction of adding to the meaning of the Village slogan, "Happiness First" and a happiness, too, which their labors have brought to countless children far beyond the Village gates who, but for their work, might never have been understood.

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COMMITTEE ON PROVISION AND EXTENSION DEPARTMENT

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Almost half a century before the founding of The Training School, influences were at work in New Jersey which were to select and equip its founder, S. Olin Garrison. In 1845, Stephen Garrison, father of Olin, was a member of the New Jersey State Legislature. In that year he fathered a bill for the establishment of a State School for mentally deficient children. It failed of passage. It was not until forty-four years had passed, and following closely upon the opening of Professor Garrison's own home at Millville for the benefit of the very few children it could accommodate, that the State made its initial appropriation for an institution for the care and training of such children. In securing this action Professor Garrison played a leading part.

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It is easy to imagine that as a boy, sitting about the family fireside, he listened to his father's stories of these children and their neglect and his efforts to influence the legislature in their behalf. Those family fireside evenings were common in those long-ago days. Perhaps more of the world's worth while work has been due to such early influences than we realize.

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The missionary spirit was strong in the Garrison family. It is not surprising that that spirit should have manifested itself in the founding and development of The Training School. It was fortunate for the world that the spirit of giving one's self for a worthy cause did not, in this instance, flag. It was responsible for the establishment in 1903 of the Summer School for Teachers; of the Research Laboratory in 1906; of the Committee on Provision (Extension Department) in 1910; of the inauguration of the Study of Birth Injuries and their relation to mental defectiveness in 1928.

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By 1910 the work of The Training School was beginning to show to the State of New Jersey what could and what ought to be done for its own mentally deficient children. It had already made clear to a few of its citizens what dangers to Society were bred, born, and flourished within their ranks. To these and a correspondingly few citizens in other states the immediate solution seemed to be, and was, increased institutional provision for this class of children.

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In New Jersey, January, 1910, under the sponsorship of The Training School, a Committee on Provision for the Feebleminded was formed for the purpose of creating a public interest in the matter. The Training School had been collecting facts in this field for more than twenty years. For three years its Research Department had been verifying its findings and extending its knowledge. The time had come for the instruction of the public and its legislatures. The Committee was formed at a meeting held at The Training School. Three persons were present: E. R. Johnstone, Superintendent of The Training School; Mrs. Caroline B. Alexander (later to become Mrs. Otto Wittpenn) and Bleecker Van Wagenen. Dr. David F. Weeks, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics and Dr. Madeline A. Hallowell, Superintendent of the State Institution for Feebleminded Women were asked to join them "In the work of providing for the feeble-minded and epileptics of New Jersey by studying the conditions in the State and urging the citizens and legislature to definite action." The expense of prosecuting the work of the Committee, $500, was defrayed by Mrs. Alexander and Mr. Van Wagenen.

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